Excavating-machine.



L. .A. KRUPP.

v EXCAVATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 11. I916. I

Patented July 24, 1917.

3 SHEETS SHEET l- L. A. KRUPP.

EXCAVATING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV-11.1916- Patented July 24, 1917.

m INVE'N'T'UH 4" /a' mwr l /raw ,1

% Q I W L. A. KRUPP. EXCAYATING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. H. 1916.

'Pfltented July 24, 1917.

INVENTUH W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEO A. KRUPP, OF FINDLAY, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE BUCKEYE TRACTION DI'I'CHEB COMPANY, OF FINDLAY, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

EXGAVATING-MACHINE.

Application filed November 11, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEO A. KRUPP, a c1t1- zen of the United States, and a resident of Findlay, in the count-yof Hancock and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Excavating-Machine; and I do here by declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, suchas will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to excavating ma chines and particularly to those of the cut ting-wheel open ditch digging type.

The primary object of myl invention 1s the provision of a machine oft e class descrlbed adapted for digging trenches of narrow age for receiving'water, gas and other conduits of small diameter, and also adapted for digging in close uarters.

F urther objects 0 my invention are the provision ofan excavating-wheel having improved buckets thereon adapted for narrow gage work, and the provision of simple and improved means for successively clean- .ing or ejecting the dirt or contents from. the

buckets as'the wheel is rotated.

Further objects and advantages of the in vention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof.

-While the invention, in its broader aspect, is capable of embodiment in numerous forms,

a preferred embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in

which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying the invention with the cutter wheel in lowered trench di glng position. Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the rear end portion of a machine with parts broken away and with the tractor in section on the line 2-2 in Fig. 6. Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged sections on the lines 33 and 44, respectively, in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an,end view of the bucket cleaning member. Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7 -7 in Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the machine driving means with parts in section.

Specification of Letters Patent.

22Eat its other endg,

Patented July 24, 1917.

Serial No. 130,841.

on the shaft; A large gear 5 is fixed on the' axle 4 and hasdriv ng connection with the loose drive wheel through the medium of a differential gearing 6.

A pair of standards 7 rise in transversely spaced relation from the rear end of the tractor frame 1, being forwardly connected to the frame and braced with respect thereto by bars 8, and also having suitable transverse connection, not shown. A shaft 9 is mounted above the axle 4 in suitable bearings 10 provided on the respective standards 7, and t is shaft carries a sprocket wheel 11 having chain connection 12 with a drive sprocket-wheel 13, and also carries a pinion 14 in mesh with the gear 5 at its top edge.

The sprocket-wheel 13 is mounted on a shaft 15, which is su1tably j ournaled in the tractor.

frame 1 transversely thereof and carries a, beveled gear 16 in mesh witha drive pinion 17 on the main drive or motor shaft of the vehicle, the motor being designated 18. The pinion 14 is loose on the shaft 9 and a clutchcollar 19 is splined onthe shaft at one sideof said pinion and is shiftable into and out of engagement therewith, XS/ill may be desired to permit the pinion to run idle or to place it'in driving connection with the shaft.

A shaft 20 is mounted, on. the frame 1' transversely thereof attire rear ofthe shaft .15 andcarriesa pinion 21 at one end, in

mesh withtheggear 5 and a ratchet-wheel The pinion 21 is loose on the shaft 20, and the clutch member .23 is splined on the shaftat the outer side of thepimon and is movable into and out of engagement therewith. It is intended that only one of the p-inions 14 and 21 shall be in clutch engagement with its shaft at the same time so that the gear 5 will. either be driven from the shaft 9 or from-the shaft 20, one shaft being employed for drivin purposes when traveling from place ,to p a'ce. The driving of the machine is through the shaft 9 and pinion 14 when it is desired to rapidly move the machine as, for instance, intraveling from one job to another, and the drive I Referring to the drawings, 1 designates is through the shaft 20 and pinion 21 when turning movements by a dog it is desired to impart slow forward feeding movements to the machine while digging.

The shaft 9 has an eccentric stud 24 at the end thereof adjacent to the ratchet-wheel 22, and an eccentric-rod 25 projects from said-stud and is pivotally connected at its free end to a rocker-arm 26 over the ratchet wheel, said arm being journaled for free sired to drive the shaft 20. For this purpose the stud 24 is provided at its inner end with a flanged head 29, which fits into a transverse recess 30 in the shaft end. A hearing sleeve 31 encircles the stud 24 and cooperates with a nut 32 on the outer end .Of the stud to clamp the stud in adjusted relation to the shaft. The eccentric rod has one end sleeved loosely on the bearing sleeve 31. v

The frame 1 is provided at its rear end between its side beams with a pair of transversely spaced bearings 33, 33 in which a shaft34 is journaled, said shaft having a sprocket-wheel 35 fixed to one end thereof and connected by a chain 36 to a s rocketwheel 37, which is loosely mounte on the shaft 9 (Figs. 2 and 6). A clutch member 38 is splined on the shaft 9 at one side of the sprocket-wheel? and is adaptedv to be moved into and out of clutch engagement with the hub of such sprocket-wheel. 4 v

A cutter-wheel carrying frame 39 is pivotally carried at its inner or forward end by the shaft 34 for vertical swinging movements with respect to the tractor frame 1. The frame 39 comprises the opposite side beams 39, 39, which are longitudinally angled, as shown, and these beams carry a superfran'ie 39" for sup 'mrting'the bucket cleaning mechanism, as hereinafter described.

An excavatingwheel 40 is carried for free rotary movements by the frame 39 between the side beams thereof and has the rim 41, which is -T-iorm in cross-section with the leg flange thereof extending inward, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. A plurality of segmental plates 42 are secured together in opposed relation and in sucrossive order entirely around the inner edge of the rim 4]. and. form sets of rack teeth 43 at each side of the leg flange of the wheel rim. The plates 42 also extend around the inner edge of said flange and form an annular surface or rail for coacting with the groove carrier wheels 44, one of which is carried by a subjacent frame part 39 on the frame 39, while the others are carried by cross-shafts on the beams 39. The wheels 44 carry and guide the rotary movements of the cutter-wheel 40 and one wheel is mounted on a drive shaft 45 and has its peripheral side flanges forming gears which mesh with the teeth 43 on the respective sides of the wheel rim so that a rotation of the toothed wheel will impart rotation to the excavating wheel. The shaft 45 extends through the interior of the wheel 40 being'mounted in suitable hearings on the beams 39 transversel thereto. Sprocketwheels-ttiand 47 are Iiiued to the outer ends of the shaft 45 without the beams 39*, and

the sprocket-Wheel 46 is connected by a sprocket.- chain 48 to a sprocket-wheel 49 on one end of the shaft 34.

The periphery of the wheel 40 is provided with equidistantly spaced cutter blades 50, which blades curve outward and forward from the wheel periphery in the direction of cutting rotation of the wheel (as shown in Fig. 2) and have their outer end portions transversely broadened and sharpened to form cutting edges with such edges preferably turned slightlyoutward as indicated. The blades 50also have their body portions preferably slightly concaved in cross-section, as indicated in Fig. 2. The inner end portions of the blades 50 are equal or substantially equal in width to the width of the wheel periphery and the broadening of the outer end portions of the blades causes the trench dug thereby to be slightly wider than the wheel periphery.

Side plates 51 are carried by the sub frame 39" at opposite sides thereof with their outer sides substantially alined or flushv with'thc respective broadened side edges of the'blades 50 so that said blades have sliding contact with the wheels of the trench. or substantially so as the digging progresses.

The blades 51 are intended to substantially close the portion of the cutter-wheel opening disposed below the ground line, thus pre venting loose dirt from fallii 10- Wheel from the sides of the trend-l1.

A shaft 52 is mounted in the super-frame 39" above the cutlcr-\\'l|ecl l0 lengthwise of the machine and has an arm' 53 .fcutlu-rcd thereon for turning movements therewith. 'lhis arm is provided at its i'n-e end with a cleaner blade 5i ol'suitablo shape for a part thereof to pass under a registering blade 50 o-fthe cutlcrnvlwel and discharge the dirt or other matter carried upward [hereby transversely from the wheel. 'llu' shaft 52. has rotation vommuuicalml thereto from the into the sprm'lu't wheel 47 through the medium of the chain 55 sprockct-\vhccl 56, shaft 57 and bevel gears 58 and the turning of the shaft 52 is so timed that the cleaner blade 54 is a coiled compression spring 60 on said shaft normally retains the arm in yielding contact with said collar. mounting the arm 53 to have rearward yielding movements is to permit it to pass any obstructions during a blade cleaning movement.

,Thedirt and other matter which is discharged from the cutter-wheel blades by the cleaner member 54 is deposited on a delivery chute 61 and directed thereby to one side of the trench being dug. The chute 61 is carried by the frame 39.

The frame 39 and mechanism carried thereby are raised and lowered with respect to the tractor frame 1 by a cable 62, which is fixed at one end to the upper portions of the standards 7-7, thence extends around a sheave 63 carried by the frame 39 at its outer end, and 'over a sheave 64 at the upper end of the standard 7 and down to and around a drum 65. This drum is mounted in a frame ()6 and has its turning controlled by a hand-wheel 67, which is in suitable connectioh therewith (not shown). It is evident that the cutter-wheel carrying frame may be raised or lowered without disconnecting the driving connection between the motor and the wheel, as the swinging IXIOWE- ments of the frame are about the shaft 34 as a center, which shaft is in chain connection both with the cutter-wheel driving shaft 45 and with the motor driven. shaft 9.

In the use of my machine the cutter-wheel is gradually lowered into the ground until it obtains the desired depth of cutting, such lowering of'the cutter-wheel being controlled by a turning of the hand-wheel67, and when the desired depth of out has been reached, the tractor and cutter-wheel are slowly moved forward by throwing the clutch 23 into engagement with the pinion 21 so a forward driving movement is commumcated to the gear wheel 5 and thence to the tractor wheels from the slow speed shaft 20. This shaft has intermittent turning movements in a forward feeding direction imparted thereto from the shaft 9 through the medium of the rod 29, which is eccentrically connected to the shaft 9 and through the pawl 27 and ratchet-wheel 22. The cutterwheel 40 is driven fromthe shaft 9 by throwing the clutch member 38 into engagement with the sprocketwheel 37, from which rotation is communicated to the shaft 34 andthence to the cutter-wheel driving shaft 45. The shaft 45 isin turnconnected to the cleaner shaft 52 and drives the lattcr'at a The purpose of speed suitable for turning the cleaner blade 54 a number of times corresponding to the number of cutter blades 50 on the cutter- Wheel for each revolution of said wheel, the turning movements of the cleaner blade 54 being so timed with respect to the turning of the ."cutter-wheel that the blade passes throughthe space between each blade and the cutter-wheel rim and discharges the dirt or other matter fromthe blade transversely of the Wheel and onto the delivery chute 61..

When the machine is being transported from one place to another' and the cutting-wheel is elevated in inoperative osition, the driving action" is communicate directly from the shaft 9 to the gear 5 through the medium of the pinion 14, which is then in clutch en gagement with its shaft, and the clutch 38 is disengaged from the sprocket wheel 37 to prevent a driving of the cutter-wheel.

Itis evident that I have provided a machine which is especially adapted for digging narrow gage trenches in which conduits of small diameter are to be laid, that the cutter-wheel maybe raised or lowered without disconnecting the driving connection between it and the motor, and that I have provided simple and efficient means for efi'ectually cleaning the wheel buckets or blades as they successively move into discharging position.

While I have herein shown and described one specific modification of my invention for illustrative purposes, and have disclosed and discussed in detail the construction and arrangement incident to one, specific application thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the mere detail or relative arrangement of the parts, but that deviations from the illustrated form or body of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit of the claims.

Havingthus described my invention, what oluble movements transversely of the wheel' periphery and for axial yielding movements transverse to the wheel axis, and means operable to revolve said member and cause it to have cleaning cooperation with said blade at each revolution of the blade.

In a machine of the class described, an excavating-whine! having a plurality" of blades mounted on its periphery in emcee-- sive order and extending outward and forward thei efrom in the direction of rotation of the wheel, a shaft mounted over said wheel transverse to its axis, a cleaner member carried l-y said shaft for revoluble move- 5 ments there vith and yielding movements lengthwise thereof and adapted to pass between a blade and the Wheel periphery transversely of the latter, and means for drivin said shaft to move said member between eac 1 blade and'the wheel periphery as the blades 10 successively move into discharging position.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to this specification.

' LEO A. KRUPP. 

